MORE INMATES THAN CELL SPACE

The Legislature did several things to help ease prison overcrowding, but
prison director Larry Norris wishes lawmakers could have done more.

By the time the Legislature adjourned its regular session in mid-April and a
weeklong special session that ended May 9, state prisons had additional
money for a new treatment program, authority to open 872 new inmate beds and
an early parole program - all approved with the growing inmate population in
mind.

Norris' wish list was longer. He lobbied hard for changes in mandatory
sentencing guidelines, but lawmakers drew the line there.

Norris talked about the two sessions last week on a day when the overall
inmate population hovered around 13,000, well above capacity, and the number
of inmates backed up in county jails was about 1,400.

He told the state Board of Corrections the overcrowding problem is scary.

During a break in the board meeting, Norris said the key to solving the
problem is to divert prisoners into programs to help them, not lock them up
and throw away the key.

"We believe our salvation will be our community corrections process," Norris
said.

During the regular session and special session, the Department of Community
Correction received about $29 million in additional funding over the next
biennium to start or continue treatment programs.

The department will receive $43.8 million the first year - an increase of
about $14 million, and $44.8 million - about $15 million more.

The additional $29 million will allow the department to staff and operate a
new 300-bed facility for parole violators who don't commit new crimes, add
as many as 18 new drug courts across the state and start an intensive sex
offender program for inmates.

G. David Guntharp, director of the Department of Community Correction,
presented the state Board of Corrections with plans for the new technical
violators program facility during the board's meeting. The $6.5 million
facility, funded by one-time General Improvement Funds, will be built behind
the new Malvern prison and should open next year.

Rhonda Sharp, spokeswoman for the Department of Community Correction, said
additional funding for the department will "save taxpayers over the long
run."

"There is a significant increase in our budget, but the taxpayers will get a
return on this investment because more people will be placed in these
programs and not in prison," she said.

She said the new facility at Malvern is expected to handle up to 1,200
people a year.

"That's 1,200 who will not take up beds in the main prison system," she
said.

Sharp said the department also is in the process of hiring several
additional parole and probation officers to help supervise inmates after
they are released.

Norris said an increase in the Department of Corrections budget will enable
him to do several things.

The department's current fiscal year budget of $182.8 million was increased
to $201 million during the 2003-2004 fiscal year, and to $204 million in
2004-2005.

Of the increases, about $33 million will be used to open and operate 872 new
beds.

Another key piece of legislation that will help is the expansion of the
Emergency Powers Act, he said.

Norris said that everything is on schedule for the new beds to open in July.
Of the 872 beds, 316 will be at the new prison in Malvern, 156 at the Varner
Unit and 400 at the Grimes Unit at Newport.

The beds actually have been ready since January but the department did not
have the money to open them until the Legislature approved $33 million for
that purpose over the next two years.

With the expanded Emergency Powers Act, as many 600 nonviolent state
prisoners could be released early, Norris said.

The current act allows the board to grant early release of state inmates
when the prison population exceeds 98 percent of capacity for 30 consecutive
days. The board, however, can only invoke the act every 90 days.

Because of the chronic backup of state inmates in county jails, Sen. Jerry
Bookout, D-Jonesboro, sponsored a bill that expanded the act to trigger it
based on the number of inmates in county jails.

Under the measure, when the county jail backlog of state prisoners reaches
500, the board can allow nonviolent offenders to seek early release if they
have served at least six months in prison.

The Department of Community Correction is in the process of hiring 51 new
parole officers to handle to handle the expected caseload increases. Norris
was philosophical about the Legislature's failure to change the sentencing
structure.

"We really tried to do something about sentencing ... but they were not
successful," he said. "But they (legislators) make the rules and we follow
them."

Norris asked the Legislature to approve measures that would reduce inmates'
sentences for good behavior and for methamphetamine manufacturers serving at
least 70 percent of their sentence.

The proposals, supported by the Gov. Mike Huckabee, were defeated.

Norris said proposed changes would have helped his department better manage
the inmates in addition to addressing prison overcrowding.

One of the bills, sponsored by Sen. Jack Critcher, D-Grubbs, would have
granted inmates up to 90 days a year in good time for not abusing the prison
system's sick leave policy.

The other legislation would have granted good time to inmates convicted of
manufacturing methamphetamine.

Under that proposal, someone sentenced under the 70 percent law could have
their sentence cut in half with good time.

Under state law, those convicted of felony manufacturing methamphetamine
must serve at least 70 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible
for parole.